As the fight for the AIADMK’s ‘two leaves symbol’ is getting bitter with each passing day, Tamil Nadu law Minister CV Shanmugham reached the Election Commission office on Monday afternoon to stake claim to the symbol as merger talks broke down between the rival party factions. Over 3,10,000 affidavits were brought in four trucks amid the ongoing tussle between Chief Minister Edappadi Palaiswami and his predecessor O Panneerselvam factions.
The Election Commission had directed both factions, Palaiswami and Panneerselvam, to submit affidavits in this regard. The Commission will hear the complaint filed against the election of Sasikala as General Secretary, on June 16. The Commission had frozen the symbol in the run-up to the now-cancelled bypoll in Chennai’s RK Nagar, Jayalali-thaa’s former constituency.
Sources in EC said that the four trucks of affidavits contain signatures of party cadre including blocks and districts level leaders declaring support for Tamil Nadu Chief Minister. The visit to the Election Commission comes a day after former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, dissolved a seven-member panel set up to hold merger talks with EPS.
Palaniswami, for his part, claimed the number of affidavits will go past the 3.5-lakh mark even as he exuded confidence of winning the battle. He stated that around 123 MlAs are with the EPS camp. There are nearly 1.50 crore AIADMK workers and Palaniswami is claiming to backed by majority of them.
Following the dissolution of the seven-member panel formed in April to hold merger the talks, the EPS faction will have to choose between AIADMK Deputy General Secretary TTV Dhinakaran and OPS. Either way EPS will have to continue his fight as the party’s thorny throne is still far from his grasp.
On June 1, Dinakaran was granted bail by a Delhi court in the ‘two leaves’ bribery case. The Tis Hazari court granted bail to Dinakaran as well as his aide Mallikarjun on a personal bond of Rs5 lakh each. The two have also been asked to surrender their passports.
The Delhi Police had last month opposed alleged middleman Sukesh Chandrashekhar’s bail plea in the case, claiming he had many cases pending against him. The police also indicated that more arrests are likely to be made in the case soon. Dinakaran, accused of trying to bribe an Election Commission official to retain the ‘two leaves’ symbol of the AIADMK, had initially refused to have known Sukesh. He later admitted to have met Sukesh, but maintained that he did not pay any money to him.